Last night I played through the first chapter of Dead Space.  You know, I probably should have paid more attention to the name of the chapter…

Chapter 1 basically introduces you to the gameplay mechanics and gets you familiar with the controls.  It’s the closest thing to a tutorial that you get.  Many of the encounters are staged to give you a chance to try out something new you just learned.

For example, right after getting the stasis module I had to slow down a door that was malfunctioning so I could walk through without getting chopped up.  And shortly after that I had to use the stasis module again to slow down a robotic arm that wouldn’t stay extended.

The basic goal at this stage of the game is to get the tram system working again so Kendra and Zach can head up to the bridge.  This involves tracking down a replacement circuit board and clearing a broken tram car off the track.  Relatively easy stuff, if it weren’t for the monsters roaming the halls.

As you make your way through the ship there are goodies scattered all over the place, like some kind of deranged Easter Egg hunt.  Log files from other crew members…  Health kits and ammo…  Valuable pieces of equipment that you can sell…  Power cells that can be used to upgrade equipment…

Much like in a typical shooter, many of the enemies will drop items when killed.  I’ve seen ammunition most often, but they’ve also dropped some health kits and money.

Money is used at the store to purchase equipment.  You can buy health kits, new weapons, ammunition, and a new suit.  That was my first purchase – a new suit.  Added survivability is always good.  You can also store things in a safe at the store, which gives you a handy way to clear useful stuff out of your inventory without losing it forever.

Most of the necromorphs I’ve been fighting are generally humanoid.  They’ve got two legs, a torso, a head, and a couple arm/claw things.  They don’t move too quick usually, but they can charge you fairly fast when they want to.  They’re easily killed by shooting off a couple limbs…  Usually a leg and then an arm…

I also got jumped by a couple weird crawly/slug-like necromorphs…  Instead of legs they’ve got a tail that ends in a hook.  They drag themselves around by their arms and can launch themselves at you.  I had some difficulty killing them simply because their limbs aren’t as obvious.  Still, once you get the hang of things they aren’t that tough.

Of course, once I got the tram up and running we ran into a new problem – the captain had locked down the bridge, so Zach and Kendra can’t do what they need to.  Unfortunately, the captain is dead.  So I’m off to medical to see if I can get the codes off of his computer…

Posted on October 23 at 9:52 PM